Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Al-Arian was born on January 14, 1958 in Kuwait. His parents, Amin and Laila Al-Arian, were Palestinian refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948. After the 1948 Palestine war, Amin had to leave behind the family soap factory in Jaffa and flee towards the Gaza Strip's refugee camps. Amin's family migrated to Kuwait in 1957 where Sami Al-Arian was born. Under Kuwaiti law, his parents had legal resident status but he was not eligible for citizenship. In 1966, his family was expelled from Kuwait after refusing to become informants for Kuwaiti intelligence. He received his primary and secondary education at Cairo, Egypt. During the early 1970s, Sami learned English from American TV shows, including Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, and The Fugitive. He left Egypt in 1975, and returned in 1979 for a visit when he married Nahla Al-Najjar.
Amin Al-Arian used all of his life savings to send Sami to America for an education. In 1975, Al-Arian came to the United States to study engineering at Southern Illinois University. In 1978, he graduated with a major in Electrical Sciences and Systems Engineering. At North Carolina State University, he earned his master's degree in 1980 and doctorate in 1985. Sami Amin Al-Arian is a Palestinian-American civil rights activist who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. He pled guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the Palestine Islamic Jihad, a Specially Designated Terrorist organization.
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To